The Ernest Hemingway Foundation: Hemingway in 15 Seconds: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Hemingway Foundation Appeals to Short Attention Spans With Digests of Classic Novels

Published on Nov 19, 2014

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How do you interest young people, with their short attention spans and multiple digital devices, in the novels of Ernest Hemingway? That's the challenge faced by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, Illinois, which is dedicated to promoting the life and work of the American author. The unusual solution: Instagram.

Ogilvy & Mather Chicago and director Eduardo Cintron created three animated films offering 15-second digests of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (seen here), "The Old Man and the Sea," and "A Farewell to Arms." Each uses a different animation style befitting the novel's setting, plot and characters. The micro-books can be viewed on the Foundation's Instagram feed, and viewers are then encouraged to go away and read the actual books. But be warned -- there are spoilers.